DeSoto briefs: Southaven police seek help finding masked robber

Southaven Police are asking for the public's help in finding a masked man who robbed the Exxon station on State Line Road on Thursday morning.

Police responded to a call from the store at 30 State Line Road at 1 a.m. An employee reported that a man wearing a brown jacket with a black mask covering his face pulled out a pistol and demanded money.

He was last seen leaving the store westbound on foot. Police searched the area with the K-9 unit, but did not find the suspect.

This is the second armed robbery of a convenience store in the city since Nov. 11.

In that robbery, a trio of masked men robbed Sid's Food Mart on U.S. 51. Police have not made any arrests in that holdup.

Anyone with information about the robberies is asked to call Southaven police at 662-393-8654 or DeSoto County Crime Stoppers at 662-429-8477.

West Point

Turner's funeral set for Monday

The funeral for state Sen. Bennie Turner is scheduled for Monday in his hometown of West Point.

Turner died Tuesday at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. He was 64.

Carter's Mortuary Services says services are at 11 a.m. Monday at Third Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church, with burial in West Point Memorial Gardens.

Visitation is scheduled for 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Turner and Associates law office on West Main Street in West Point.

Turner, a Democrat, had served in the state Senate for the past 20 years and had been chairman of the chamber's Judiciary Committee from 1996 to 2004.

Hernando

Christmas carolers sing for donations

Santa's helpers in DeSoto's halls hope the sound of young Christmas carolers will have some accompaniment: the plunk of food items for the needy into boxes in the rotundas of the County Administration Building at 365 Losher St. in Hernando and the County Courthouse across the street.

On Dec. 11, the fourth-grade choir of Oak Grove Elementary in Hernando will sing at 8:30 a.m. at the County Courthouse and at 9 a.m. at the Administration Building. On Dec. 12 at 10:30 a.m., Head Start children will perform holiday favorites at the Administration Building. Both events are free and open to the public.

The boxes in the rotundas were collection points until last week for nonperishable food items to be sent in stockings to members of the armed forces serving overseas. But the giving still goes on with food items destined for area food banks.

"The Oak Grove Choir and the Head Start kids are great, and they come every year," said Gia Matheny, administrative assistant to the DeSoto Board of Supervisors. "It's a tradition we all look forward to."